


Baby It's Cold Outside

by QuickSilverFox3



Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Chronic Pain, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Sharing Body Heat, Sharing a Bed, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:36:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27300571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuickSilverFox3/pseuds/QuickSilverFox3
Summary: “Easy, habibi.” Joe’s touch was a balm on his freezing skin, Nicky pressing his face further into his hand, pressing a kiss to the curve of his palm. “How are you feeling?”[No 21. I DON’T FEEL SO WELL Chronic Pain | Hypothermia]
Relationships: Andy | Andromache & Booker | Sebastien & Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf & Nicky | Nicolò & Quynh, Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nile Freeman, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947016
Comments: 2
Kudos: 67
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Baby It's Cold Outside

Pain spiked down Nicky’s leg before he had even opened his eyes, ripping a groan from his throat. 

“Easy, habibi.” Joe’s touch was a balm on his freezing skin, Nicky pressing his face further into his hand, pressing a kiss to the curve of his palm. “How are you feeling?”

“Hurts,” Nicky murmured. It was a good sign, after all, if he could still feel the leg it meant he wasn’t about to lose it, but it hurt. 

“I’m sorry,” Joe whispered into his hair, his touch light as it ghosted over Nicky’s face.

“It’s not your fault, vita mia.”

* * *

“What are we going to do?”

Quynh paced, threatening to wear a hole in the floor, but no-one tried to stop her, restless energy coiling in the pits of their stomach.

“Run through the information we’ve got please, Booker?” Andy sighed, face pale, eyes never straying from the storm pressing against the window. The world outside was grey and shapeless, what little light turned grey by the heavy clouds. 

Booker uncurled from the tight ball he had worked himself into, laptop hugged to his chest to try and keep it from dying, the distant glow turning him into a ghoul.

* * *

“Storm was meant to last for three days. We are currently on day three, best guess.” Booker’s words were slurred, sending bolts of fear down everyone’s sign, eyes turning to Booker. Quynh stumbled, finally taking a seat next to Andy, interlocking their hands.

“Nicky’s leg is broken, badly. We’re not running low on water, but that’s only going to make us colder.” Booker sighed, propping his head onto his knees. “People know where we are, but it’s a case of the weather dying down enough for them to get to us.”

Andy nodded slowly, a sigh ripped out of her.

* * *

“I think,” Nile sat up slowly, a yawn threatening to crack her jaw, shoulders cracking as she stretched, “that our holidays are cursed.”

“They haven’t been that bad,” Joe replied slowly, carefully resting against Nicky’s chest. The other man’s eyes were closed, shifting beneath the lids with the heavy bags the same shade as a bruise. 

“Not bad,” Nicky muttered, voice cracking. Joe twisted immediately to stare into his face. “But unusual. I’ve been getting my use out of my medical degree, after all.”

Joe chuckled, carefully settling back down, pressing gentle kisses to the back of Nicky’s hand.

  
  


* * *

“What are we going to do?” 

There was little privacy in the small cabin they had rented, a large main room surrounded by one smaller bedroom, but the kitchen was tucked into an alcove so it was close enough. Andy’s face was creased with pain, the heel of one hand pressed into her stomach.

Quynh hugged her close, mindful to not put too much pressure, her mind racing. 

“What else can we do?” Andy asked, lips curled into a self-deprecating smile. “Just got to wait things out.”

“We’ve still got painkillers,” Quynh tried but Andy was already shaking her head.

* * *

Nile curled closer to Booker, a shiver rattling down her spine despite the heavy layers they were both wearing. The air seemed to bite at the exposed skin at her face, and she twisted, movements clumsy, to press her face into Booker’s hoodie. 

He smelt smoky, almost like the whiskey he favoured, and she breathed in deeply. 

“You okay?”

Booker’s words were weak, fingers gently tugging at her braids to free them and settling them across her shoulders.

Nile sighed, murmuring a soft noise of assent into his shoulder. Maybe, if she could sleep, everything would go back to normal.

* * *

Joe woke at the first muted whimper from Nicky. They were both stretched out across the double bed in the single bedroom, a modicum of privacy that they would have appreciated under any other circumstance.

Before, Nicky had bitten marks into Joe’s neck, murmuring about his need to keep him quiet in the scraps of time they had alone in the house, gently tugging at his curls with every press of his teeth. 

“Nicky?” Joe kissed his forehead, his skin burning beneath his lips. “Nicolo, wake up.”

Nicky groaned, eyes opening to reveal a flash of white but remained asleep.

* * *

“Joe!” Andy’s voice lacked none of it’s usual authority, but her face was pale, teeth gritted against the tremors that assailed her. The air in the cabin was bitingly cold, breath fogging with every exhalation.

“What else can I do?” Joe tugged on his curls, eyes wild and face bloodless. “He’s burning up, in pain, and I can do nothing!”

“Getting yourself killed won’t help, Nicky.”

Joe sank to the ground with a groan, pressing his hands to face as his shoulders heaved, biting back sobs. 

Booker staggered as he stood, carefully picking his way over to hug him tight.

* * *

No-one was moving.

Booker’s head lolled on his shoulders, eyes half open but staring at nothing. 

Nile was almost hidden beneath her mass of borrowed clothes, pressed on her by the other’s in the group into her unresisting hands. 

Quynh watched the door through half-lidded eyes, shivering enough to rattle her teeth. Her weight was held off Andy’s torso, back curved as she wrapped her arms around her knees. 

Andy’s head was rested against the wall, hands tucked beneath Quynh’s jumper, but she was still.

Joe watched Nicky, gently tracing the slight pale scar in the corner of his lip.

* * *

Nile woke, or was she still dreaming? Nothing felt real, her thoughts slow and meandering away from her as hard as she tried to follow them.

Frost gleamed on the walls and floor, complex lace-like patterns covering her boots (were they her boots? She couldn’t feel her feet, her own hands feeling disconnected). It glittered on Booker’s eyelashes, his skin so pale she could see the veins beneath his skin.

Noise from outside made her turn, the effort leaving her gasping for breath that lacerated her throat, a ringing in her ears. Darkness claimed her quickly, her head slumping forward.


End file.
